The Philosophy Of Parmenides Of Elea

Sometimes known as the Grandfather or Father of Western Philosophy, Parmenides of Elea lived during the fifth century BCE, writing in response to the pluralist philosophies of the pre-socratics that preceded him. His only known work, the didactic poem called On Nature, is only available to us in pieces; however, the "Proem," the introduction to On Nature, has been well-preserved over history.



The story begins with Parmenides traveling to the home, or underworld, in which the goddesses Day and Night reside. Two parts make up the work, the first being "The Way of Truth" and the second "The Way of Appearance." Parmenides writes in an apocalyptic style which begs a number of hermeneutical questions; however, Parmenides seeks to critique the metaphysical theories proposed before him.



To Parmenides, Truth must be eternal and immutable. He proposes two methods of inquiry, to find that which is and that which is not. In other words, something either is or it simply is not. He rejects the possibility that something is not because it would unintelligible to even discuss. Something that exists certainly cannot be said to "not be." So, inquiry must always lead to that which is.



Many philosophers before him, however, presupposed metaphysical first principles of change and motion, which, to Parmenides, was absurd. Change requires a transition from something that isn't to something that is. We already have seen that something that which is not is a theoretical impossibility, nor can something come from nothing. As a result, Truth is fundamentally eternal and immutable.



Parmenides' conclusions leave us with quite a few reservations. From his perspective, our empirical view of the world must change and/or re-explain notions such as change, generation, motion, and asymmetry. On the other hand, this narrative may caution us against the fallible reasons of man, as explained in a lengthy cosmology put forth by the goddess.



Although Parmenides is very convincing, many scholars debate the appropriate interpretation of his work. Most see his work as another material monism as put forth by those like Thales and Pythagoras. However, another interpretation sees his work as a large dialectic, juxtaposing truth and appearance, rationalism and empiricism, and theory and practice. This seems to be a better reading because it still allows for Parmenides critique on earlier thinkers and espouses a more skeptical approach to metaphysics, in which eternity and immutability must be considered just as evenly as change and motion.



Another theory suggests Parmenides' metaphysics of being as one of a "prime mover," from which all "beings" come. More simply, metaphysics is eternal and immutable while physics, which derives its existence from metaphysics, appears in plurality and change. Likewise, other modal and perspectival theories have been put forth as well but simply regurgitate the meta-principle theory.



In any event, Parmenides opens up new questions to the dialogue of philosophy that proceeded him. Plato, in particular, based his Parmenides on his work, about which he probably learned a great deal from Socrates, who Parmenides supposedly met in Socrates' younger days on a trip to Athens. Likewise, Plato's Republic certainly shares many themes with Parmenides' work, most obviously through Plato's "Allegory of the Cave."



Looking for more philosophy books? You can visit our Best Philosophy Books website!